𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞•𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞

ten

1 year later

"drag your ass out of my bed!" mingyu whines, trying to take all the people out of his bed by the legs at once. it was both a good and bad idea, being close friends with his employees.

now, mingyu's not as alone, he has people to bicker with and care about—but then there are times like this, where they all drink in mingyu's house and have a sleepover.

also, the gang expanded. two employees had been added ever since the cafe had an expansion and renovation. minghao and jihoon aren't any better than his original employees.

"oh, you're awake. now, get out of bed." mingyu huffed, looking at a squinting minghao. mingyu drags his leg, but minghao kicks mingyu's arm off, making mingyu laugh.

"okay, mr. ceo says wake up!" soonyoung rises out of bed, checking the time before completely walking out of the room. seungcheol rises and follows soonyoung outside, while the rest still laid in bed. minghao was shuffling, jihoon was hiding himself from the rays of sunlight, while jeonghan and jisoo cuddled.

skin. when did mingyu last have a skinship with someone he liked? pretty long ago. though it wasn't as open and long like how jihan looks like over here, but it made mingyu happy. when will he feel that again?

wonwoo. he never texted mingyu anymore; never came back to korea. maybe what he said about liking mingyu wasn't real? maybe wonwoo just kind of.. used mingyu. but mingyu won't be mad if that's the case though, he got more customers after taking wonwoo's advice, and wonwoo got big internationally, too.

wonwoo might never come back to mingyu. wonwoo might've changed. mingyu still wishes to talk to him just once, though.

"hey, you've been standing there for five minutes." mingyu notices that jeonghan and jisoo were already awake, and so were the two others. jihoon looked grumpy though, making mingyu laugh. "ready?"

"ready for what?"

"we're going to the art gallery today, remember?" jeonghan softly asked. "you know, the one where taehyung works in as a curator?"

"oh, yeah, he invited us. right, let's get ready." mingyu quickly takes off his shirt and heads to the bathroom first.

mingyu had no idea what exhibit might be held in the art gallery, but he decides to go anyway. he'd been itching to see some paintings himself. maybe find something better than what wonwoo had painted before.

the exhibit had pretty many people, but it still had space for mingyu's gang. it would be more crowded if mingyu and his employees clump together, so they splitted themselves. soonyoung and jihoon went together, jisoo and jeonghan went to see an abstract painting together, minghao and seungcheol were interested in some landscape painting.

mingyu was left alone, not getting attracted to any of the paintings. mountains? nah. a weird, unproportioned portrait of a person? nah. flowers? maybe. sea? maybe.

or what about that one, the biggest of them all, a painting where mingyu was in a field of sunflowers?

and then mingyu realizes. it was an exhibit of wonwoo's paintings. so is wonwoo in korea?! he'd gotten really big! these paintings are avant-grade, beautiful and utterly deep. mingyu wanted to know where wonwoo is, but he can't know it now. who could he ask? taehyung, probably, but he's busy.

maybe he can't know where wonwoo is now, but he can find out something else. the explanation behind the sunflower painting.

mingyu walks to the huge painting, looking at every detail. just by looking, everything that happened flashbacked. this painting held all their memories in the sunflower field, secure and unforgotten.

mingyu feels his eyes burning, seeing how big his smile is in that painting. he remembers the feeling of the sunflower petals on his palm—and how could he forget? that bee sting, wherein he got so upset about? that little thing that wonwoo did to mingyu's sting, where mingyu felt wonwoo's soft lips numbing away the pain?

why did mingyu still miss wonwoo, despite cutting all their connections? it'd been a year.

mingyu reads the little panel on the side of the painting, the explanation.

SUNFLOWERS
BEHIND THE PAINTING

This is the very painting that served as Jeon Wonwoo's first milestone in his career. Entering a contest, Jeon Wonwoo decides to paint a special person in a beautiful sunflower field at a sunny morning. Despite not winning, he gets recognition for his immense talent and eye for sentimentality. Read his explanation here:

"Kim Mingyu liked sunflowers. It was my first time painting sunflowers on a person's cheek—on his cheek—then he says, 'Sunflowers face the sun. That's why it's called sunflowers. I went to a sunflower field once, and they do face the sun! and oh, another thing; when there's no sun, they face each other. aww! don't you think it's cute?'

"I got an idea. I brought him to the sunflower fields, and I painted him along with the sunflowers. They belonged together. Kim Mingyu was a person who liked looking at the bright side, like the sunflowers. His life hadn't been going on so well, too— But as for me? Unlike sunflowers, when there's no bright side, I look away. In my life, there had never been any bright side, so I always looked away and dissociated myself in everything. But when I saw the sight of Kim Mingyu in the sunflower fields, I decided to look at him instead.

"sunflowers face each other when they can't find the sun. I now choose to face Kim Mingyu, a Sunflower, instead of always looking away. I wanted to show everyone where i look when i feel down."